preventing arrogance?

[gusl]

Me - [fiddle solo]
J- Wow, that was great!
Me - Thanks.
J- And fiddle is such a hard instrument!

Freeze the scene.

In my paranoia about not being arrogant, I stop and wonder "what should I say?"

"- Yeah, you're right it is a hard instrument." (therefore I am good, therefore this is an arrogant remark)
or
"- Actually, playing fiddle's not that hard." (even more arrogant!)

My arrogance becomes thus unfalsifiable.

Comments

[hermesbrain.livejournal.com]

what about "Instruments each require a different set of skills"? Still slightly arrogant, but a factual diversion, and a better response to entrapping subjective opinion?

Or the hyperbole approach "Yep. I kick some serious ass" (especially if offhand imprecise remarks like that are out of character for you) -- a self-referential attack on the principle of arrogance with ad absurdum illustration.

Probably there are better options.

[drx.livejournal.com]

There's always:

The you're an idiot approach - "You don't know anything. I suck!"

The painful silence - "..."

The anti-arrogance - "I was fortunate enough to have a good teacher."

The ultimate arrogance - "Kneel and worship me!"

[bondage-and-tea.livejournal.com]

You could make yourself arrogant in another field of expertise and explain how current theories of neural networks model the learning of skills such as fiddle playing :-)

[krasnoludek.livejournal.com]

or, you could project your arrogance: "That's a very arrogant thing to say!"

Your opponent's confusion at such a remark should buy you enough time to run away.

[altamira16.livejournal.com]

statement of fact - I have been playing X years.
slightly effacing humble comment - Anyone could do it with enough practice and a good instructor
humorous and forgiveable arrogance - Playing the fiddle is not that hard. Playing the fiddle in space! Now THAT is hard!

[spoonless.livejournal.com]

lol, I've definitely had that happen before. It can be awkward.

I've found that a simple "Thanks" is usually the least arrogant and most straightforward answer.

[triple-entendre.livejournal.com]

Agreed. You can also, as in the above situation, just repeat it until the other person says something that can be responded to. Or better yet, respond with a question of your own! It is our responsibility to redirect conversational flow sometimes.

Of course, if the scene described in this post were an animated cartoon line-drawing, the correct response would be to break the fiddle over their head!